Colored rocks and pebbles have found usefulness as decorative materials. Various colored particulates of these kinds have been accepted for use for gardens, patios, aquariums, roofing materials and the like. Traditionally decorative rocks or pebbles have been painted with standard paint or dyes for these purposes. However other coating method have been developed to provide more decorative finishes to rocks, pebbles and other particulates.
For example U.S. Pat. No. 5,262,243 discloses a method for producing a stone with a decorative metallic finish. This method involves adhering metallic sheets to the rock by cutting them to size and then pressing them onto the rock. Crevasses must be filled before a metallic sheet is pressed on, so that the sheet touches all surfaces. This method is performed by hand, and is therefore time consuming and costly.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,422,792 discloses an apparatus for applying reflective glass beads of mesh size 100-50 (as used in road marker paint), to painted stone, utilizing the semi-dry paint to stick the glass beads onto the painted stone. This method requires spraying the glass beads over the rocks, and also requires the rocks to be preheated and dried immediately after the glass bead application. The glass beads simply make the paint appear more reflective, which can also be achieved to a reasonable extent by glossy paints.
Colored sand has also been produced using certain dyes and is typically used for sand art, where alternating layers or designs of colored sand are placed in a clear container for artistic use. However the size of the sand particles and the finish produced limit the use of this material.
Mica containing paints offer a further method of providing an attractive finish to painted surfaces. Mica has properties which allow it to provide a pearlescent or iridescent finish. The individual particles in pearlescent pigments are usually thin crystalline platelets. Pearlescent pigments are normally formulating into paint, which includes agents to suspend and diffuse the pearlescent pigments. In these finishes a large proportion of the mica which produces the pearlescent appearance is covered by the paint pigment, wasting much of the mica (which is expensive), and also requiring complex formulations adequately to suspend the mica in the paint solution.
Therefore it is an object of the present invention to provide a particulate material, having the appearance of small pebbles, with a mica finish, at relatively low cost.
A particularly useful application for such particulate material is to support candles and to contain melted wax from the candles. Candles are commonly burned in glass containers of a variety of shapes and sizes. Glass votive style candle containers are becoming increasingly popular. These containers have downwardly and inwardly sloping sides. In virtually all glass containers in which candles burn down, a wax residue is normally left on the bottom of the container, and in the case of those containers with sloping sides, the wax residue commonly remains on the sides of the container as well. The wax residues are very difficult to remove, and the result is a messy looking and unattractive container.
Various methods have been used to try to eliminate the problem of the wax sticking to the walls of the container. One such method is to place sand in the container underneath the candle. However sand consists of very small size particles which the wax cannot penetrate. Therefore the wax stays on and pools on the surface of the sand and flows to the sides of the container, again sticking to the sides. In addition, sand is so dense that it is difficult to push a candle, particularly a wide diameter candle, sufficiently far into the sand for the sand to provide a support for the candle (to hold the candle upright).
Oils can be used to try to prevent the wax from sticking to the sides and bottom of a container. However the oil may distort the optical properties of the glass container, and in addition the oil can be messy and can create a fire hazard.
Water can be used to prevent wax from sticking to the bottom of a container, because the wax will float in the water. The water therefore acts as a barrier between the melted wax and the bottom of the container, but the water does not protect the sides of the container and may also extinguish the candle prematurely.
One aspect of the present invention therefore addresses the problem of melted wax coating the container wall, as will be described.